Self loading and unloading vehicle



March 10, D cRAlG SELF LOADING AND UNLOADING VEHICLE I Filed April 12, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 10, 1931. D. CRA|G SELF LOADING AND, UNLOADING VEHICLE 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 12 patented Mar. 10, 193i UNITED STATES DAVID CRAIG, OF GATESIDE, BEI'IH, SCOTLAND SELF LOADING AND UNLOADING VEHICLE Application filed April 12, 1929, Serial No. 354,634, and in Great Britain May 1, 1928.

My invention relates to new or improved means of loading and unloading iron or steel rails, girders, timber, and such like into and out of suitable rail and road vehicles, and has 5 among its objects to provide a machine of this character which is of a very simple, cheap and eflicient construction, all as hereinafter described with reference to the drawings and pointed out in the claim.

In order that my invention may be properly understood and readily carried into effect, reference is had to the following detailed'description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a wagon illustrating my invention.

Figure 2 is a plan with the roof removed.

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse section taken through the machine substantially on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure l is a right end view of the machine as shown in Figure 1, the wheels and adjacent parts being broken away, and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary enlarged rear view of the machine as illustrated in Figure 1.

In carrying out this invention and referring to the drawings, A is the wagon or vehicle provided with a roof or cover 13 suitably carried on the supports C, detachable or other suitable supports D being also provided which may be swung out of the way when loading or I unloading the wagon. I also provide a suitably shaped bracket or brackets E (in this case I have shown two), the base of each of which is securely fixed to the floor of the wagon A at the back side thereof. Suitably mounted on the lower end of the bracket E is a gear wheel F with a spindle or drum G connected thereto and to which spindle the usual lifting chain H or wire is attached, the outer end of which passes over pulleys J and I respectively spaced horizontally and transversely of the vehicle A and mounted on the upper part of the bracket E. This gear wheel F meshes with a small gear wheel K fixed to a spindle K mounted in the bracket E in front of the drum G and which is normally operated by a hand-lever L connected thereto, said spindle K being capable of moving longitudinally. The lower front portion of the bracket E is in the form of two sloping rests. Steel ways S are provided on the bottom of wagon A for the rails to rest on when loaded.

A pawl or dog N is pivoted to the side of each bracket E adjacent to the gear wheel F for engaging the teeth of the gear wheel F and preventing it from rotating when de-' sired. Another pawl P is pivoted to the other side of each bracket E adjacent to a gear wheel K mounted on the spindle K andwith which wheel the point of the pawl P is adapted to engage to prevent it from rotating when desired. The gear wheel K? is so positioned that when thegear wheel K is meshed with the gear wheel F, the gear wheel K is free from all the gear wheels, but when the spindle K? is moved longitudinally, the gear wheel K meshes with a gear wheel K on the spindle of the winding drum M which carries a wire rope or chain M for pulling in the lifted load. From the above it will be seen that the operating of the drums G and M is controlled by the position of the spindle K 7 The rear edge of the bracket E is provided with a heavy plate or web E securely fixed to the rear side of the wagon A, and the upper overhanging end of the bracket E extends slightly beyond the front side of the wagon The purpose of this plate E is to provide a back balance so that the wagon Awill not topple over when lifting a heavy load.

Suitable hand rails Q, are provided. across the rear sides of the brackets for facilitating the mounting on. the wagon A by the men operators. The rear side of the wagon A is provided with side boards R which may be suitably hinged at B so that they may be swung down to form a step or platform.

.In operation, whenit is desired to load the vehicle A, the hook H of the lifting chain or wire H and the hook M of the chain or wire M is suitably attached to the rail or 7 other load to be lifted and the hand lever L first shifted to intermesh the gear wheels F and K and then operated to turn the drum G, Wind the cable H thereon and raise the load. \Vhen the load has been raised sufficiently high, it is held in that position by means of the pawl N engaging with the gear wheel F. The lever L with its shaft K is now shifted.t'o releasethe gears F" and K and to intermeslr the gears K and K to-con-' nect the drum M with the handle L and the turning of the latter winds the cable M on the drum and the load is then drawn into the vehicle A. p v I By alternately shifting the shaft K back and forth,an'd.byuse 0f thelocking, pawls or dogs N and P, the cables H and M are manipulated toshift' the rail or other article into 'desired position onthevehicle and upon the ways S:

The vehicle Ads shown in the present instance as inth'e-form of a railway car, and! theinventronis" disclosed as applied thereto forhandl ing rails or 'thelike. The front side=of'the*vehicle 'A is' adapted to be positione'd towa-rd theop'posite'trackor to face tox'vardthe railsor otherjartioles to' be' loaded upon the" vehicle; unloading the vehicle A; it is positioned to---face toward the place ar -Bed upon w'lii ch the-rails or the like areto" be: deposited. In handling" rails the vehicle may lee-advanced al'ong thetraek and oper-'-' ated to either unload rails at desired" points, orto take up rai-l's l y-in'gi along} the side-of the track which are to be carried away;

In unloading; the reverse operation takes place and; when the load-is" lifted suifioiently highfrom-thebottomof thevehicle it is lowered: on to the ground.

Inlifting rai-lsfronr the rip-service of theline, detachable 'ski ds O a-re provided-by 'w-h'icholdraiisean be l i fted and place'd' in the vehicle, and new r'ails removed from the vehicle and plated on theline;

As many-brackets E with gearing as de sired may be provided on the vehicle."

What is claimed is: A self 'loadi'ng" and' unloading vehicle com prising a vehicle-body, a plurality of 'br'ack ets' "spaced apart along one side of the body) andfloorof thevehicl'e and curved into overhanging relationwitli the opposite front side of the body, a plurality of removable skids extending downwardly from the front a side of' the body to engage the ground and direct tl ieload upwardly onto the upper surface of 'the vehicle, the skids being positioned so that the load may be directly deposited on the floor of'the vehiclewithout further shift-- ing ofsaid skids, a pair'ofdrums mounted on each" bracket and having load engaging cables thereon; one of said cables exten'ding DAVID CRAIG.

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